Wikileaks totally still exists, and is still releasing cables received from U.S. diplomatic computers. Its latest document dump offers some juicy tidbits about Canada, released just in time to influence the election—though there’s almost nothing in there that actually will. Here are five things we learned about U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson’s deep thoughts.

1. Laureen Harper is “mouthy”Laureen Harper, wife of the prime minister, gets credit from the ambassador for softening Stephen Harper’s more “reserved” image. We might have gone with “wooden,” but that’s probably considered undiplomatic language for a national leader. Apparently, however, it’s totally okay to refer to Mrs. Harper as “the self-confessed mouthy one.”

2. Americans: some of them get paid to pay attention to our politics so the rest don’t have to
Jacobson manages to get in some sly digs at Harper’s expense—or at least that’s how we read this, referring to the Conservatives: “They have used the crime agenda to great effect, making it an essential part of their ‘brand,’ in spite of the fact that they have not actually passed most of their proposed crime and security legislation.” Somewhat amusingly, back in early 2010, Jacobson wrote a cable saying that the Liberals showed “a lack of energy and hands-on leadership,” while in 2008, a different ambassador noted that the NDP could “hold on to its current level of support and even do better, given the persistently weak popularity” of both Liberal and Conservative leadership. Prescient!

3. The U.S. spends a lot of time griping about Canada’s copyright laws
University of Ottawa prof Michael Geist has been all over this, showing how obsessed the U.S. mission has been with getting Canada to update its copyright laws, preferably in the exact ways that U.S. media corporations would like. Probably most revealing is that the Conservatives shelved their 2008 attempt at copyright reform because they were worried about the electoral blowback in the next election—one that Stephen Harper would call later that year.

5. Oil: turns out it’s a big deal
Quite a few of the cables have to do with Albertan oil, which is neither surprising nor terribly newsworthy, though there are some funny bits, like when one U.S. embassy officer had to smooth over some anti-Ottawa, pro-Washington rants—made by Canadian conservatives opposed to the Chrétien government in 2003. Other cables include lots of warm feelings and shared PR strategies over the tar sands.

One thought on “Five things we learned about ourselves from the latest Wikileaks dump”

Stephen Harper’s love affair with George W. Bush almost got Canada involved in an illegal war against Iraq. Harper’s proposed Orwellian ‘Big Brother’ grab for INTERNET control is inspired by US bureaucrats involved in trying to cover up war crimes committed by the CIA and the Pentagon. US State Department systematically spies on politically active Canadians that they may be assisted or resisted based on US foreign policy interests. The ‘HARPER GOVERNMENT'[Formerly the Canadian Government.] misappropriated G-8 Summit funds and that while concerned Canadians, protesting the corporate undermining of Democracy, were being assaulted, searched, and illegally detained by police.